Question: if you had to choose between your job or something else, would you change?

Well…. if I was independently wealthy I wouldn’t mind leading a life of leisure! I have a lot of projects that I would like to get into, but so far in my life I don’t seem to have the time! Build a robot. Learn how to speak another language. Do some work for charity in a developing country. However, given that I have to work, being a scientist is pretty sweet.

Oh, and I often despair of the political leadership of this country… I sometimes idly wonder if I should stop complaining about it and try to do something… maybe when I’ve used up all my good ideas.

Like the independently wealthy idea – if I was however I think I would still be a scientist, perhaps like one the 19th Century gentlemen who studied subjects they were fascinated by! Publishing their results and debating the findings with colleagues. Being independently wealthy would also give me the opportunity to travel the globe and observe amazing wildlife.

How could you complain about independent wealth. I think though that I would always be interested in finding out how things work and trying to solve some of the issues that the oceans face. Our work is really interesting so I don’t think I could give it up.

I like the idea of being independently wealthy too – although I think that if I was, I would probably still be an astronomer! The great thing would be that I would have the flexibility to change to something different whenever I wanted. And if I had to be something else, I’d still like to do something science related, perhaps science journalism.

Agree with what the others said. I would get bored pretty quickly if I wasn’t doing something that made me think and use my brain. Having the freedom to pursue whatever interested me would be nice, but I would still need to come to work to talk to other scientists and get ideas. Science is a team effort, not something you do by yourself.